Seems I have been “fluffing” about these past few days. I spent so much time on the internet looking for rabbit statues for the garden. Did you know there are one heck of a lot of rather “not quite right” rabbits to choose from?
The shop in town where I had been admiring a pair from their rear ends finally was open when I went shopping. “Yes” they were for outside as well as inside. One that had all four feet on the ground was $52…his mate, sitting on his bum and back feet was $75. I told the lady that I thought about her rabbits every night because I could find nothing else that seemed so right. I also said that the price difference was rather odd. She went to get the owner who claimed since I was giving them a good home, having trouble sleeping, etc., I could have them at the lower price each. I could not wait to get them home.
So many rabbits for the garden are very English looking, meaning they are a choice if you can’t find a subtle garden gnome. Is there such a thing? All the others looked cartoonish…cute but cartoonish, or like oversized jack rabbits waiting to pounce. And yes, I did see plenty of the “moon gazing” posed rabbit that seemed to be sort of ridiculous in broad daylight.
So, first came the new pots. The tall white ones. They needed planting. So off to the garden center.
It didn’t seem quite right, so back to the garden center to buy two more pots of various colored calla lillys. The young girl assured me that they would politely die at the end of the year so I would not have to “winter them over”. Once those were in place, I put those perfect Japanese-looking garden rabbits where I could see them.
Then I added my stone partridge to a pot to give him something to do besides Christmas duty. I love seeing them all from the porch.
The neighbor across the way has many bird feeders and therefore many birds. But they fly over here to have a bath or get a drink. Yesterday beautiful blue birds showed up.
After settling the pots and rabbits, I decided to give myself more privacy on the porch and also get the neighbor’s gas tank out of view. I took one of the two shoji screens that were around my jacuzzi in the old place and popped it in the corner after pulling the shade halfway down. A very cozy corner for reading.
My neighbor across the road gave me a jar of her freshly made strawberry jam and told me of the market here near town where I could buy not only strawberries but all sorts of produce grown there. It is just outside of town but in a direction I have never been. Tomorrow I am going there to ask about the berries and Roma tomatoes. All the ones I roasted with my herb salt and froze have been eaten.
In anticipation I made up more herb salt today using rosemary, thyme, parsley from my pots and garlic and green onions. All finely chopped fresh with coarse salt.
When it has completely dried out I will jar it for those tomatoes when they come in. Also today I made up 12 more savoury scones with ham, spinach, green onion, and parmesan cheese. One for lunch before freezing the rest.
One of those with a glass of vegetable juice makes a perfect lunch.
This large, and not so attractive, iron sculpture was something I did not want to burden new owners with. Certainly the people who bought our house had a different aesthetic. So I convinced Patrick to take it north with him. It bounced around in the back of his truck to the point that he named it “The Free Radical”. I have asked him to bring it back. It will be perfect facing the Japanese garden from between the two sets of windows out back. I will put a pot in its head to give it a bit of “hair” during the growing season. It was a gift from Philip Kuznicki, an artist from California that Lee and I rented a house to several years ago. I loved it more for having come from Philip, whose work I have in my house. It needs to come home and not be a burden to Patrick as he wonders what in the heck to do with a welded, rusted, ceremonial looking head.
Patrick and Marla will be here in July and I will post a picture of The Free Radical back with me.
But I will say, looking back through the pictures of our old place to find this picture, was not easy for me. So many sounds and smells and memories come through those images. I am happy here with kind neighbors and arranging things to my liking. But we sure did have a full on life at that place we came from. It is now in the hands of the perfect people to care for it. Hopefully I will be able to see what all they have added and taken away. At least The Free Radical was not something they had to deal with.
Til later…I am going to have another glass of Aussie red…